Course Details

Ethics and Technology: Engineering in the Real World

This course examines engineering as a profession and the responsibilities of that profession to society. Professional responsibilities of engineers are compared to those of lawyers, doctors, scientists and business leaders. Ethical theories are introduced as frameworks to guide decisions of technology implementation. Simple quantitative decision making concepts, including risk-benefit analysis, are introduced as a method for engineers to make ethically optimal choices.

Sample reading list:David Noble,
America by DesignHenry Petroski,
To Engineer is HumanSamuel Florman,
The Existential Pleasures of EngineeringDouglas Birsch and John H. Fielder,
The Ford Pinto Case: a study in applied ethics, business...D. Goodstein,
On Fact and FraudL. Winner,
Do Artifacts Have Politics
See instructor for complete list

Reading/Writing assignments:
Weekly readings of 4-5 articles. Weekly precepts will be student led. Three short papers (2-3 pages) based on precept material. In the second half of the term, students will carry out an independent analysis of a technology and examine the ethical issues facing engineers in implementing the technology (topics include energy, environmental, automotive and other technologies). Oral presentations and annotated bibliographies will be presented on these analyses.

Other information:
There will be movies relevant to technology development, e.g. "Who Killed the Electric Car", "The Day After Trinity", "China Syndrome". These will be available for viewing on Blackboard.